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I need help setting up my family server to be more user-friendly

So, I had an old computer lying around a few weeks ago, so I figured I'd put to good use, and installed Ubuntu and a VNC software on it, stuck it in my basement, and gave my family connection information.

It's been working well, but I want a way for my family members to go somewhere on my site (or something of the likes) and upload files to the server, and view/download files from the server. It's not set up as an actual FTP server, but if it was I could do this.

So, what I'm asking is, how can I set this desktop up as an actual FTP server?

I wonder whether you are asking the right question? Why do you need to set it up as a server with ftp access? Why not share its hard disk over your wifi using Windows sharing? That way anyone on you wifi network can see and update the "server" just as if it were a local drive.

If you need to set up a lan host facility, e.g. to host PHP, then install WAMP server on the "server". I've got precisely that arrangement and it works fine. I can update the files on the "server" by ordinary file copying, and run PHP scripts from icons to test development copies of my PHP web sites.

Well, see it's running Ubuntu, so that's not really an option. And, I need to be able to access it from multiple different networks (as my parents are divorced and have different houses, and I spend a considerable amount of time at my father's, and need access to these files).